After the Canadiens lost 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime Tuesday night at the Bell Centre there were media members and fans questioning coach Claude Julien’s three-on-three strategy for the extra period.

Julien started the overtime period with forwards Tomas Plekanec and Paul Byron, along with defenceman Shea Weber, rather than going with a pair of more offensively-gifted forwards like Jonathan Drouin and Alex Galchenyuk.

After practice Wednesday in Brossard, Julien was asked about his overtime strategy when it comes to which players to put on the ice.

“Well, first of all, I don’t really have to explain it, but I will,” Julien said.

“It’s one of those things where it’s called coaching. Defence strategy, no. Because when you put No. 41 (Paul Byron) on the ice to start, he’s a pretty good player for us. He scores goals. Those two (with Plekanec) have chemistry, but also at the same time you’re trying to counter the other team’s top players. I don’t feel right now some of our top offensive players are capable of being strong both ways, so I have them together.

“(Max) Pacioretty’s our best goal-scorer right now and he went out next with Phil (Danault) that have chemistry (together),” Julien added. “Then there was Galchenyuk and Drouin coming up next, so we had established our duos. We didn’t get there. What if I put Drouin and Galchenyuk and we get scored on right away? Are we going to second-guess that decision, saying why didn’t he put some guys more reliable? So that’s my strategy … that’s the way I feel it’s been good so far. I think we’re 2-2 in those situations (overtime games), so we’re not in a tough situation as far as what we use. It worked well the game before, we won the game (2-1 over the Buffalo Sabres on an overtime goal by Pacioretty). So that’s basically what I look at.”

You can watch Julien’s full news conference Wednesday in Brossard on the HI/O Facebook page.

Coyotes are a really bad team

The Canadiens are back in action Thursday night when the Arizona Coyotes visit the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690).

While the Canadiens have been struggling this season with a 8-9-2 record, they’re not nearly as bad as the Coyotes, who are the worst team in the NHL with a 2-15-3 record after a 4-1 loss to the Jets Tuesday night in Winnipeg.

The Coyotes have the worst offence in the NHL, averaging 2.25 goals per game, and the worst defence, allowing an average of 3.92 goals per game. The Coyotes are the only team in the NHL with a worse offence than the Canadiens, who rank 30th with an average of 2.42 goals per game.

“There’s no easy games in this league,” Julien said. “I know you hear that a million times, but it’s the truth. There’s no such thing as an easy game in this league. We have to show some maturity tomorrow … the maturity of a team that doesn’t take anything lightly and that will be ready to play as hard as they did last night against a real good team. That’s what we got to do. We can’t get caught in that situation … they’re an NHL team and just because they haven’t won doesn’t mean they haven’t been good against teams and haven’t had a chance to win some games.”

Clayton Keller leads the Coyotes in scoring with 11-6-17 totals, followed by Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2-9-11), Christian Dvorak (2-8-10) and Max Domi (1-9-10). Coyotes No. 1 goalie Antti Raanta has a 1-5-2 record with a 3.16 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.

Lindgren will start again for Habs

Veteran goalie Antti Niemi, claimed off waivers from the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, practised with the Canadiens for the first time Wednesday in Brossard but Julien confirmed afterward that rookie Charlie Lindgren will get his sixth straight start Thursday night against the Coyotes.

Less than two months into the NHL regular season, Niemmi is already on his third team after starting out with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had a 0-3-0 record with a 7.49 goals-against average and .797 save percentage with the Penguins and was 0-1-0 with a 5.11 GAA and .872 save percentage with the Panthers.

Last season, the 34-year-old Niemmi was with the Dallas Stars, posting a 12-12-4 record with a 3.30 GAA and .892 save percentage.

In 2010, Niemi became the first Finnish goalie to win the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks. Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin was part of the Chicago management team at the time and Canadiens goalie coach Stéphane Waite was also with the Blackhawks, working with Niemi.

“I think (Waite) has watched some video of him and he’s the one that knows him best and he’s convinced he can certainly work with him and he’s had success with him before,” Julien said. “This is quite a long time ago … we’re not necessarily saying we’re going to bring (Niemi) right back to where he was seven years ago, or whatever it is. But there’s definitely some things (Waite) feels he can do to help him out. And as Berg (GM Marc Bergevin) said yesterday to everybody here, we’re making sure that we cover all our angles here with having some experienced goaltending here until things fall into place.”

No. 1 goalie Carey Price, who remains sidelined with a lower-body injury, didn’t skate for the second straight day Wednesday and is expected to be re-evaluated on Thursday by the team’s medical staff. Regular backup goalie Al Montoya is out indefinitely with a concussion.

The Canadiens returned goalie Zach Fucale to the AHL’s Laval Rocket after Tuesday’s game and Niemi will back up Lindgren against the Coyotes. Lindgren has a 3-1-1 record with a 1.39 goals-against average and .957 save percentage.

Pacioretty, Mitchell miss practice

Captain Max Pacioretty and Torrey Mitchell missed practice Wednesday.

Pacioretty, who limped off the ice and went to the locker room at one point in the third period Tuesday night, took what the team called a “therapy day.” Mitchell is still recovering from the flu that caused him to miss Tuesday’s game.

Also absent from practice was Artturi Lehkonen. The Canadiens announced after Tuesday’s game that Lehkonen is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.

Mete on the wing

The Canadiens announced at Tuesday’s morning skate that Lehkonen wouldn’t play against the Blue Jackets and then Mitchell came down with the flu just before the game after arriving at the Bell Centre. It was too late to call up a forward from the AHL’s Laval Rocket, so Julien had to dress seven defencemen and use rookie Victor Mete as a left-winger on the fourth line.

The 19-year-old Mete had never played wing at any level of hockey before. He did play one exhibition game at centre with the junior London Knights.

Mete said Julien asked him before the game if he would be comfortable playing on the wing.

“I was like: ‘Not really, but if you want me to play it I can play it … it’s fine,” Mete said after Wednesday’s practice. “I didn’t realize that Mitchy got sick, so I was kind of wondering why would I go there? And then I finally realized he’s not playing.”

Mete logged 7:06 of ice time and was plus-1. He also fed linemate Jacob De La Rose with a beautiful pass in the first period, but De La Rose couldn’t beat Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky from in close.

“It was pretty cool,” Mete said about the experience. “I had never played wing before, so it was a cool experience.

“I was just asking questions every shift … saying like what do I do here? Everyone really helped me. When you’re D, you can kind of see everything that’s going on. Winger, you have guys behind you and in front of you. D, you only have the guys in front of you, so it’s a little different — but it was fun.

“I didn’t know what to do position-wise in the D zone or anything, so it was just kind of go out there and do my best and read off the other guys,” Mete added. “Claude said: ‘If you were a D, where would you think the forward should be, so just kind of go in those positions.’ So that’s kind of what I was trying to do.”

Julien said the Canadiens would probably call up a forward from the Rocket before Thursday’s game against the Coyotes. The Rocket were in action Wednesday night at home against the Utica Comets.

What’s next?

The Canadiens have an 11 a.m. morning skate scheduled Thursday in Brossard before facing the Coyotes at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens will practise at 11 a.m. Friday in Brossard and then play the final game of their six-game homestand Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m., CBC, SN, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690). Next week, the Canadiens are in Dallas on Tuesday and Nashville on Wednesday.

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